Why do they want to hurt the little guy?

As I look over 18 months of “Hope and Change” policies, one consistent theme comes into sharp focus. These programs hurt the working poor and middle class. If Democrats wonder why they are going to get their backside handed to them in the upcoming November elections, perhaps they can start by examining their own failed policies. Here’s a brief synopsis of some of the Obama administration’s “achievements” and how they hurt the poor and middle class in this country.

Cash for clunkers was designed to help “boost” the American economy and the flagging US auto industry by pouring 3 BILLION of your tax dollars into the automotive marketplace. The entirely predictable results of using 3 billion of your tax dollars to destroy 690,000 used cars is; used car prices have gone up (good old supply and demand). This adversely affects the people that need transportation the most, the working poor and middle class. Unfortunately the urban tuned Obama administration forgot that most places don’t have buses, trains, or any other public transport to get you to work. Now, thanks to our “well spent” tax dollars, the price for the vehicles favored by poor and working class Americans has jumped more than 10 percent in a year. The fastest rising prices are for large trucks and SUVs that were traded and destroyed for more fuel efficient cars. These are the same types of vehicles that millions of American’s count on day in and day out to get the job done. The question cash for clunkers raises isn’t how many new cars were sold, but how many perfectly good cars and trucks were destroyed that won’t be taking American’s to work?

One of the other “great” Democratic achievements (besides consistently high unemployment) is “Obamacare”. The Obama administration promised time and again that “Obamacare” would reduce costs. As was predicted before the bill passed, and we are seeing now that “Obamacare” is law; the cost of healthcare is being pushed up, not down. The legislation is already hurting millions of self employed and self insured Americans as their insurance rates rocket sky high. The bill includes new taxes on the medical community, from medical devices to drugs. These new taxes and fees increase the cost of healthcare. The rich and upper class aren’t going to have a problem with these extra fees because they can still afford it, but the little guy and the elderly are getting squeezed doubly hard in these tough economic times. For the poor and middle class, the healthcare bill formerly known as “Obamacare” should be know as “Obama doesn’t care”.

Included in the “Obama doesn’t care bill” is an onerous new paperwork requirement for small businesses. Even though Obama policies are destroying jobs at a record pace, the Democrats added new burdens on the very people that create jobs. The IRS now requires that business track all purchases over 600 dollars a year to a vendor and have a 1099 filed. Can you imagine? Small business that would be lucky to break even can easily spend 600 dollars on office supplies. Now those businesses have to file more paperwork with the IRS. The big guys already have tons of workers and processes set up to track these types of bureaucratic necessities. That extra paper work will just add a little bit to the cost of doing business for big business. It will crush the small businesses with added expenses and expose them to potential legal action by a hungry IRS if they make a mistake. With small business the source for 64 percent of all jobs, you can bet that once again, the poor and middle class will get hit the hardest.

Even when the little guy gets a break, the Obama administration is quick to introduce legislation that would turn back the newly gained freedoms. In the recent Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. FEC, the court struck down various campaign finance laws that had long discriminated against non media outlets. While the decision was reported as a win for corporations and unions, it is the little guy that really won. Large companies and unions already have Political Action Committees (PAC) and government lobbyist set up. Small companies don’t have this apparatus in place and can’t afford it. If a small company were to try to play in the field of political advocacy, they would get slapped with a law suit post haste (As Citizens United learned). The entire system was rigged to favor the large entrenched special interests, the little guy wasn’t even allowed to play. Now people can band together to form a company to get their message out and no longer have to worry about being prosecuted for political speech. This result angered the President so much that he took the highly unusual step of dressing down the Supreme Court during his 2010 State Of The Union address. Judging by his words, he didn’t even read what the ruling said.

The President has talked proudly of his days as a “community organizer“. In that role he claimed that he “…received the best education I ever had……….taught me a lot about listening to people as opposed to coming in with a predetermined agenda”. I guess that lesson was forgotten the day he took office. As the most powerful person in the country, President Obama had a chance to truly help every American by reducing the burden of government and helping people make their own way in this country. Instead he chose the path of a more expensive, burdensome, controlling, and intrusive government. Doesn’t the community organizer trust the American community? Par for the course for an administration that constantly appeals to emotion, and invoke terms like compassion and justice while passing legislation that always seems to hurt the little guy the most. In November, the Democrats are going to learn that justice means the little guy is tired of getting hurt.